Adani announcement cause for celebration

THE announcement today by Adani’s Gautam Adani that his company has made their final investment decision and will proceed with the massive Carmichael coal, rail and port project is cause for celebration throughout Central and North Queensland.This is an historic day, and it is significant that the announcement by Adani that they’ve signed off on their investment decision on the Carmichael Coal Project has been made on Queensland Day.It’s a great day for Queensland and particularly for those in Central and North Queensland who have had hopes raised and dashed numerous times as they await the jobs and business activity this project will create.Adani have announced in Townsville today that they have signed letters of award for design, construction, operations, supply of materials and professional services for the Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin.

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Labor Senators ‘don’t give a damn’ about jobs

LABOR senators can’t spent an extra few hours in Canberra to ensure thousands of workers get on the job sooner to build the Carmichael mine, port and rail line.This is the frustrating result of a series of last minute amendments and stalling in the Senate which has pushed off a vote on the Native Title Act for another month.Although Labor said they would support the necessary amendments to the Native Title Act which has essentially frozen a number of projects, including Adani’s Carmichael mine project, over indigenous land use agreements, they have managed to stall the process and further delay job creation.It’s just another example of the so-called ‘party of the workers’ failing to do what is necessary to support workers not only in Central and North Queensland, but also workers in South Australia at Arrium who will have job security through the company’s deal to supply steel to build the Carmichael rail line.The necessary amendments to the Native Title Act were scheduled for a vote in the Senate yesterday.

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Elitists try to write off jobs in the North

The elitists are trying to write off jobs for struggling unemployed Central Queenslanders and North Queenslanders with their letter to Gautam Adani opposing the Carmichael Mine.Styling themselves as ‘prominent Australians’, these elitist wankers include investment bankers, CEOs of major corporations such as Telstra, pretentious literati, professional activists and has-been celebrities.I’d love for just one of them to come down to the Larrikin Hotel in Bowen and explain to the locals there who have been suffering from a stalled economy for years on end, why they think the jobs from the Carmichael Mine and Abbot Point coal port expansion should not be created.

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Adani wants Mackay workers in jobs mix

I've come away from a meeting with Adani representatives in Brisbane this morning heartened by assurances that up to 1000 jobs will come on line by mid-year and Mackay workers will be actively encouraged to apply.There are 1000 jobs in the mix as Adani moves into pre-construction work later this year and these jobs will be advertised directly in Mackay as well as regionally, and Mackay workers will be encouraged to apply for these jobs.I met with a key spokesperson for Adani in Brisbane this morning to lobby them for a greater commitment to assist Mackay regional residents being to apply for positions that may become available with their mine and associated works.These jobs will be in fields such as earthworks, fencing, building dams; all that is required for setting up the basic infrastructure for the mine site.There will also be construction jobs associated with the rail line from the Galilee Basin mine to the port of Abbot Point.These construction jobs will go on for two and a half years, so the employment prospects for workers are imminent and significant.

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Labor-Greens alliance would end Adani project

A Labor-Greens government would spell the end for the Adani Carmichael Mine Project and the thousands of jobs it would provide.This has been made crystal clear by Greens and Labor candidates this week.If the Greens get to power-share in a Labor minority government, we can kiss the Carmichael Mine Project goodbye because the Greens will push to overturn the mine approval and sound the death knell on the thousands of jobs it would create.Greens Senator Larissa Waters has said the Adani mine should never have been approved.So this is how it would play out if we ended up in the mess of having a Labor-Greens minority government.

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Why won’t Bill Shorten support job-creating projects for CQ workers?

LABOR leader Bill Shorten has confirmed that his government will do nothing to support the workers of Central and North Queensland who are desperate to see Adani’s Carmichael Mine Project go ahead.Why is Mr Shorten so opposed to the project when it’s vital for the economy of the region?Mr Shorten said in Mackay today, and I quote ‘The Commonwealth Government I lead wouldn’t be putting taxpayers’ money into the Adani mine.’

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Region to supply workers & services for Adani

THE announcement today from Adani that Mackay, Bowen, Townsville and Rockhampton will all play key roles in providing manpower and services for their Carmichael Coal Mine Project will provide the region with a huge confidence boostThis is the news that everyone has been waiting to hear – workers and businesses in Mackay and Bowen, as well as those in Townsville and Rockhampton – will all benefit from the Carmichael Mine Project as we have the people, the logistics and the mining services hubs to service this project.

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Hollow boast from Labor candidate

Labor’s claim on approving the Carmichael Mine (Bowen Independent, 6/4/16, P8) is a hollow boast, considering Labor are still holding up the approval of the Abbot Point port expansion.The Labor Party ran a half page ad for their candidate in the upcoming federal election but what they failed to mention was they’re still yet to approve the Abbot Point port expansion.In fact Labor’s State Environment Minister Steven Miles is on the record stating he will not issue the Abbot Port approval until Adani has the finance for the project.

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Labor needs to stand with North Queensland workers

JOBS and a vital boost to this region's economy are still under threat from frivolous extreme green legal challenges and the only way to end them once and for all is through legislation in the federal parliament.The Adani Carmichael Coal Project is by no means certain while the extreme green legal challenges remain in the courts despite yesterday's mining lease approval.I'm calling on my Labor opponent to join me in the fight for local jobs by backing legislative action to end those green legal challenges.

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Labor shows lack of support for Adani jobs

I have called on Dawson Labor candidate Frank Gilbert to decide whether he supports the development of Adani’s Carmichael Coal Project which will create thousands of much-needed jobs in the region.Mr Gilbert is telling people desperate for jobs that he supports Adani, but at the same time he’s attacking the project on social media.Last night Mr Gilbert attended a Bowen Chamber of Commerce meeting where I was guest speaker, and he told that audience that he supported the Adani project.But earlier this month on Facebook, Mr Gilbert posted a link to an article which attacked the Carmichael Coal Project and he himself commented that it was “ignorant and irresponsible” to back the fossil fuel industry.

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MP urges Labor to support job-creating bill

THE call to put an end to extreme green legal warfare against job-creating projects in Central and North Queensland was on the agenda in Canberra this morning with the presentation of a Private Member’s Bill on the issue.I called on the Australian Labor Party to support the Liberal National Government’s amendments to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act in order to put an end to frivolous legal challenges which held up major projects.An endless round of legal challenges from the extreme green eco-terrorists against projects such as Adani’s Carmichael Mine are destroying this country’s reputation and we risk sending investors elsewhere to secure the fossil fuels they will need for decades to come.

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Adani needs patience of saint to wait for state

NOT only is the Queensland Labor Government dilly-dallying on the approval of a mining lease for the Carmichael Mine, but there is a swag of other approvals pending which are holding up progress on the massive job-creating project.A major developer needs the patience of a saint when dealing with the Palaszczuk Government and quite frankly it’s ridiculous.It’s not like this combined mine, rail and port project hit the in-trays yesterday; it’s been going on for years.

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MPs: Grant Adani mining lease so work can begin

I joined several of my Queensland colleagues at Parliament House today in a joint call for the Queensland Labor Government to issue a mining lease for the Carmichael Mine, now that an environmental authority has been issued.Doing so would allow Adani to get started on the massive job-creating project which has been 10 years in the making.The development of the Carmichael Mine is an absolute no brainer.

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Greens target "brown faces" in racist anti-mining campaign

EXTREME green groups are guilty of veiled racism in their relentless and targeted campaign against Indian company Adani and its "brown-skinned executives".This is a mining development which will breathe new life into Mackay with the jobs and opportunities it will provide.The extreme green anti-mining campaign has only focussed on an Indian company which is veiled racism, and the veil’s pretty thin.It’s almost a case of ‘you can’t trust the Indians’.Along with defaming an Indian company, these extreme green groups are now attacking the Indian brown-skinned executives of that company.

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Extreme greens urged to get out of the way

I am heading to Ahmedabad on a mission for jobs.I will be meeting with the Chairman of the Adani Group, Mr Gautam Adani, to deliver thousands of postcards of support from a community saying, ‘Yes, Mackay does support the Carmichael mine, Yes, we can supply a workforce, and Yes, we can be a service hub for the Carmichael Coal Project'.The extreme green movement, who have conducted a relentless campaign against the job-creating Carmichael Coal Project, need to understand that Adani needs coal, and will simply source it from somewhere else if they can’t go ahead with their mine in Australia.

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Extreme green bother brigade must be stopped

THE extreme green activists have put out the call for donations to fund another legal challenge of the Carmichael Coal Project before they even know what they can oppose.The action is another clear indication that the extreme greens are hell-bent on robbing the region of much-needed jobs and investment dollars.GetUp! has put the call out for donations to fund another legal challenge already, and by these actions they are proving the point yet again that this has nothing to do with conservation and everything to do with stopping coal projects.

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